Gentle Mates down Team Vitality for Rocket League's Boston Major title

Gentle Mates outlasted Team Vitality 4-2 on Sunday in the grand final of the Rocket League Championship Series 2026 Boston Major.

Team Vitality had topped NRG 4-1 in the best-of-seven semifinals earlier Sunday at Boston University, while Gentle Mates edged Team Falcons 4-3.

Nassim "nass" Bali of Morocco and Belgium was voted Boston Major MVP. Bali and teammates Archie "Archie" Pickthall of England, Oskar "Oski" Gozdowski of Poland and coach Nicolai "Snaski" Vistesen Andersen of Denmark won the $102,00 first-place prize and 30 RLCS circuit ranking points.

Gentle Mates opened the grand final with 3-1 victories on Mannfield (Night) and Forbidden Temple. Team Vitality countered with wins on DFH Stadium (1-0) and Utopia Coliseum (Dusk).

The Mates dominated the last two maps, 5-1 on Parc de Paris and 6-2 on Neo Tokyo.

The first major of the year for RLCS began with a group stage of 16 teams, split into four groups of four, playing best-of-five matches on Thursday and Friday. Each team played three matches, with winners of each group qualifying for the upper bracket of the playoffs.

The second-place teams in each group qualified for the lower bracket, and the bottom two teams in each group were eliminated.

The playoffs were best-of-seven on Saturday and Sunday.

The event put on by BLAST features a $345,000 prize pool, and is the culmination of Opens 1-3. Results from the Boston event will also contribute to qualification points toward Major 2 and the 2026 Rocket League World Championship.

Gentle Mates edged NRG 4-3, and Team Vitality topped Team Falcons 4-2 in the upper-bracket quarterfinals on Saturday to advance to the semifinals.

Team Falcons dropped to the lower-bracket quarterfinals and swept Shopify Rebellion 4-0 on Sunday. NRG similarity stayed alive with a 4-2 defeat of Karmine Corp the same day.

On Friday, Karmine Corp ousted Geekay Esports 4-3, and Shopify Rebellion eliminated Ninjas in Pyjamas 4-2 in lower bracket Round 1.

In one semifinal on Sunday, Team Vitality opened by beating NRG 4-1 on Mannfield (Night) and 1-0 on Forbidden Temple. NRG rallied by winning 2-1 in overtime on DFH Stadium. Vitality, however, won 2-1 in overtime on Utopia Coliseum (Dusk) and 4-1 on Parc de Paris.

In the other semifinal, Gentle Mates won the first map, Mannfield (Night), 1-0, before falling behind as Team Falcons won 2-1 on Forbidden Temple and 2-1 in overtime on DFH Stadium. The Mates won 3-0 on Utopia Coliseum (Dusk) then lost 4-1 on Parc de Paris.

Gentle Mates closed it out with a 3-2 overtime win on Neo Tokyo and 2-1 victory on Champions Field.

Rocket League's Boston Major prize pool

1. $102,000, 30 RLCS points -- Gentle Mates

2. $51,000, 20 -- Team Vitality

3-4. $36,000, 14 -- NRG, Team Falcons

5-6. $22,500, 10 -- Karmine Corp, Shopify Rebellion

7-8. $15,000, 6 -- Geekay Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas

9-12. $9,000, 5 -- PWR, Virtus.pro, Twisted Minds, MIBR

13-16. $4,500, 3 -- Five Fears, FURIA, Spacestation Gaming, TSM

--Field Level Media